My Father, the Begger
by Mushmallow62
Summary: Ryuuto wants to learn who his father is, but Ryuuga won't talk about him. So he decides to go off and look for the man himself, but what he finds isn't what he was expecting.


My Father; The Begger

12

Ryuuga knew of their father, but he always refused to talk about him to Ryuuto. So Ryuuto decided to try and find their father himself.

Walking out of the building his shoulders hunched forward and he let out a sigh; _Why can't I find him?_

All he wanted was to meet his father; he had been too young when he had left home although Ryuuga, his older brother, remembered him fairly well; however Ryuuga also refused to talk about the man and no matter how hard Ryuuto tried to bug him about information the Dragon Emperor refused to speak of him.

Ryuuto only knew his name so he went around and looked in all archives that he could find to see if he could get some kind of clue to know where the man was now; _I'm a treasure hunter, I can do this!_

He kept coming on empty; _nothing_ told him anything about the man he knew so very little about. In fact the main reason why he was looking for his father now was due to Ryuuga having been sent a letter, from a woman who claimed to be his mother.

'_Tch,'_ Ryuuga read through the letter, amber eyes filled with hate as he finally came to the end of the letter; _'Not worth my time…'_ He had begun to scrunch the letter up and would have thrown it into the bin had Ryuuto not stopped him.

'_What does she say?'_ He took the letter out and was about to start reading when Ryuuga snatched the letter back; _'Hey!' _He cried out and glared at him.

'_It's not her,'_ He told him and Ryuuto frowned, not understanding what he meant and Ryuuga sighed just shaking his head slowly; _'I get a few letters from women who claim to be my mother,'_

'_Why would they do that?'_

'_Look at the return address,'_ Ryuuga showed him the envelope and Ryuuto starred at it, his own amber eyes going wide.

'_But…'_

'_That's where she is,'_

Ryuuto looked at him and understanding came over him, their mother was _in_ a care home and the women around her must have heard about her son… Or at least that is what he hoped had happened, ut in this world you could never be too sure.

He looked at the note and saw that no mention was made of himself, just _Ryuuga._

There was a flutter of envy, how could there not be when your older sibling was more powerful than you, smarter and could stay calm in just about any situation. Though he reminded himself of the obvious, it wasn't their mother writing but other women, although it didn't do much to curb the jealousy that he felt towards his older sibling.

He knew that although Ryuuga was a top blader, ranked right up there with Ginga and he was brilliant at what he did however Ryuuto was a treasure _hunter_, not a blader, although he and Omega Dragonis worked together it was completely different in how they battled when compared to how Ryuuga used L Drago in his own battles.

However he refused to give up, kept on going with his search for their father, although Ryuuga had warned him that he would be disappointed if he ever did find their father.

His search kept drawing up dead ends; nothing was a clue, not even his mother's name linked up with his father and from what he learned their parents never even married. He sighed and sat down on a bench near a park feeling rather defeated and having to face the facts;

_Ryuuga was right._

He hated to admit that, but it was true, Ryuuga _had_ been right, their father was impossible to find;

_How can one man be so hard to find?_

"Are you all right sonny?" A man asked, looking a bit worse for wear; came shuffling towards him and sitting down.

"Yea," Ryuuto sighed though; "Just…"

"Open up, it's bad for your mentality to keep things inside,"

"Yea," He grinned, knowing that is was true, after all he could just look at Ryuuga to see that keeping things inside wasn't good for you; "I'm just looking for my father,"

The homeless man starred at him; "Where did you last see him?"

"Huh?" Ryuuto realised what he had said and shook his head; "Oh no, I don't mean… I'm trying to _find_ my father; he left home when I was a baby. No one talks about him, I have a few clues but nothing has turned up,"

"Really? If he has been gone for that long, why do you want to find him?"

"He's my father, why shouldn't I want to find him?" Ryuuto retorted with an eyebrow raised; "I only just found my brother over a year ago, I learned what happened to my mother…"

"Learned? So you weren't raised by her?"

"No. I was given away; a foster family took me in before someone adopted me,"

The man frowned, not completely understanding the situation; "Why weren't you kept with your brother?"

"Well he was sold by my mother,"

"What?" Violet eyes widened in surprise at hearing such a thing.

"Oh, nothing bad happened!" Ryuuto tried to reassure him; _apart from him wanting to take over the world…_

"I see…"

"Yea, we were both raised properly, but Ryuuga…"

"Ryuuga?" The homeless man looked surprised to hear the name, but Ryuuto thought it was just because the name had featured in a lot of things, after all his brother was rather well known; "I see… So you would be Ryuuto…" He rubbed his greying beard, although there was some red mixed in with it, though his hair was completely white.

He just starred at the homeless man in shock; "How… how did you know that?"

"I know your old man," He admitted and slowly stood up, stretching to get the cracks out of his back.

"Wha… Where is he?"

"I can't tell you,"

"Why not?"

"Because I am sure you have envisioned your father in a stable job, not as a beggar on the street,"

"A beggar?" Ryuuto repeated and the homeless man nodded.

"Yes, he's been on the streets for a while now,"

"I… I should still see him,"

"Ryuuto, boy you _don't want to see him_,"

"I do, I have to," He said stubbornly, he refused to let this chance escape him, he had worked so hard to find his father and he wasn't going to let it go so easily.

"Why?"

"Because… Because Ryuuga got to _know_ him, I didn't. I don't know whether to hate him or not,"

"I see," The man beckoned him to follow and they left the park, going down a few alley ways until they came upon a derelict building, it's roof collapsed, the windows shattered and the walls spray painted.

"Is this where you live?"

"No sonny, I live somewhere else, a place that is helping me to get back on my feet,"

"Then why isn't…" Ryuuto began to ask, but then he saw a figure; a man with the same amber eyes as himself and Ryuuga, but his hair was bright red, or would have been completely bright red had it not been for the mud in his hair.

"That's him,"

"Oi! Oi! Did you bring the…?" His father, or so he assumed it was his father, began to ask and fell over, with Ryuuto nearly ran over to help him back up when he was held back.

"Hey!"

"Don't, you do that he'll steal whatever is in your pocket; he does this all the time,"

Ryuuto just looked at his father, feeling rather sad that his father was out here and he was unable to help him; "What happened…"

"I can't say. I have no idea why he is like that. He used to try and get himself clean, but… Well, it didn't really work that well," The homeless man sighed; "Everyone has demons, everyone fails from time to time, but for us on the street? When we fall we fall _hard_. If we fall again though it's expected of us, we are _supposed_ to fail because no one believes us, no one believes _in_ us," He looked Ryuuto in the eye; "You have no idea how it feels to know that people who hire you _expect_ you to fail and have already written out your notice. This is a cruel world we live in," He looked over to Ryuuto's father; "And sometimes we either fall and stay there or we claw our way back up and be just as ruthless as those around us,"

Ryuuto remained silent and the homeless man brought him back to the main part of the city.

He had a lot to think about now, not just about what he had seen but also the homeless man's words.

"Just remember this; he wasn't a bad man when he fell,"

"All right, thanks for… Well..." Ryuuto nodded back in the general direction of where they had been and he nodded.

"So long as you understand where we are coming from, and remember he's not a bad man. His demons have just overcome him in such a way that he turns his attentions to other things,"

Ryuuto just nodded and walked away, completely unaware that the man he had been talking to, the man with white hair was actually his father, a man who was deeply ashamed that he allowed his own demons get the better of him and who had decided that for his own families sake that they would be better off without him around.

Although after hearing everything that Ryuuto had told him, he began to wonder if it hadn't been a good reason to leave.

_It's all in the past now, Ryuuto has turned into a good kid._ He turned away and walked back to where he came, to check up on his friend.

Ryuuto just believed that the man he had been shown, the man with dirty red hair and the same amber eyes as himself and Ryuuga was indeed his father, never noticing how the other man looked at him; not noticing the similar resemblance in the face, or the eyes, although it didn't matter anymore.

He returned home and admitted to Ryuuga what had happened, who didn't seem too surprised by it and just went off to make dinner for them both.

_I guess we have to make the family something to be proud of again_. Ryuuto vowed with a smile, moving to help Ryuuga in the kitchen, although he was just going to pester him; _We'll just be a family… We don't need parents for that._ He grinned as he was about to try a bit of the bread that Ryuuga had put out only to be glared at.

_Yea, we'll be all right._


End file.
